by Pastor Rob Keller
(Philippians 1:12-21)
Last week Pastor Sunny introduced the question of God’s sovereignty and suffering. The problem posed was that if God is really good, then He’d want to do something about all the suffering in the world. Furthermore, if God is really all powerful, then He’d be capable of doing something about all the suffering.
But, some may think because there’s heaps of suffering across the world, either God is not really all good, or He doesn’t really have unlimited power. Ps Sunny provided another explanation which reconciled the continuance of suffering in the world with the facts that God really is good and unlimited in power.
This week we continue on the theme of suffering, but looking at the response to suffering. At the outset it must be said that the Bible gives clear direction only to followers of Jesus as how to respond to suffering. My guess is that God’s heart is that followers of Jesus use times of suffering to minister His grace, love and comfort into the lives of those who are not yet following Jesus (2 Corinthians 1:3-4). By doing so, we allow the Holy Spirit to point to the ultimate Comforter – Jesus; He is seen through our good works.
The believers response to suffering is, paradoxically, to rejoice! How can anyone in their right mind rejoice in time of suffering? Well, today we’ll see that when followers of Jesus suffer because they carry His name, God is able to bring into being amazing outcomes, including salvation, transformation and comfort – all to His glory. The injunction to rejoice is not because of the suffering itself, but for what God can bring out of the suffering. Yes, God can bring good even out of evil and suffering; open your hearts and minds to see how this is so.
